


We Have Finally Become Perfect (The Two of Us)

by insomniacchronosaurus



Category: Stray Kids (Band), TXT (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: AU, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, jihope are there for 2 seconds, jihope work at the dance studio, seungmin also works at the bakery, soobin owns a bakery that taehyun & kai work at, yeonjun & beomgyu own a dance studio together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 00:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18840136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insomniacchronosaurus/pseuds/insomniacchronosaurus
Summary: A dance studio opens next door to Soobin's bakery and the owner of the studio leaves Soobin smitten. Kai and Taehyun scheme to bring Soobin and Yeonjun together, but ended up getting more than they bargained for. Life and love just never seem to go according to plan, do they?





	We Have Finally Become Perfect (The Two of Us)

"Ding!" The bell that rang every time someone opened the door happened to sound the exact moment the cashier went cha-ching. Soobin smiled at the coincidence and looked up to see who had come into the bakery. A silver haired boy with a bright smile said hello and bowed as he entered.

"Welcome to Choi's! What can I get for you?"

"When I came in I wasn't intending to buy anything, but it all looks so good that now I'm tempted." The boy smiled and scrunched his nose, which Soobin couldn't help but find very cute. 

"I'm Choi Yeonjun, your new neighbor. I'm running the dance studio next door. I just wanted to say hi and thank you in advance for the smell of fresh baked bread coming through the walls to dull the stench of sweaty teenagers."

Soobin chuckled. "My pleasure. I'm Soobin, and welcome to the neighborhood! I hope you like it here."

Yeonjun smiled and sighed contentedly, looking all around. "I think I will. Thank you!"

"Of course! Have a nice day!"

Yeonjun left and Soobin watched him walk away, not able to keep himself from sighing dreamily. That boy had been...really, really, pretty.

"Who was that?" Kai, a high schooler that Soobin had hired about ten months ago asked as he came out from the back.

"Choi Yeonjun. He owns the new dance studio right there. He wanted to say hi."

"Hmm. Was he cute?"

"The cutest," Soobin admitted as he collapsed onto the counter. Kai laughed.

"Then you should get to know him."

"Maybe, but I won't get my hopes up for dating."

"Why not?"

"He could be straight. And/or homophobic."

"But he could also be not straight. You have a 50% chance of him being not straight."

"And I have a 50% chance of him being homophobic, so if I try to make a move I could get outed and I lose all my customers and go bankrupt, and then I end up homeless, and then starve, and then die."

"Okay, calm down. That's extremely dramatic. He could be straight and not homophobic. And who says he'll out you?"

"Who says he won't?"

Kai sighed. "You've got to start taking risks at some point, hyung."

"At some point. But not today."

 

****  
"Hyung, you've got to come help me with this paperwork."

Yeonjun whined and dragged himself from the window to where Beomgyu sat on the floor of their studio. 

"What were you doing over there anyway?"

Yeonjun lay on his stomach next to where Beomgyu sat, reaching for a pen and grabbing a form from the pile of papers across from them.

"Looking at the bakery owner next door. He's really cute. He has dimples and he scrunches his nose when he smiles and his cheeks look so soft-"

"You can gush about me to your crush of the week later. For now, I need you to tell me your main source of income."

Yeonjun groaned. "My parents," he said while sighing.

"Once we get settled here and we're making decent money, I'll pay them back for helping me with the rent and then start taking care of it myself. And then I can give my employees a raise. Speaking of, when are we doing interviews for teachers?"

"Mmm...Thursday. Do you have a criminal record?"

"Yeah, I strangled my friend once when he got too robotic and boring."

The scratching of Beomgyu's pencil stopped abruptly as he slowly turned to Yeonjun to roll his eyes at him in the most exasperated way possible. Yeonjun had expected this, but he was at least expecting Beomgyu to laugh afterward. Instead, after briefly glaring at Yeonjun, Beomgyu simply turned back to the paper.

Yeonjun scooted forward and put his elbows on Beomgyu's leg. Beomgyu sighed.

"Hyung-"

"You seem stressed. You're not acting like yourself. We should get out of here and take a break."

"And do what?"

"I don't know, whatever you want. We can just watch people in the park until we see someone with a cute dog and scream, dog!"

"But we have responsibilities-"

"That we can attend to later. We have time before we have to turn all of this stuff into the landlord. So can we go have some fun? Please?"

Beomgyu looked down at Yeonjun, who was pouting. He sighed again, gathered all the papers into a pile and put them into a yellow folder, which he took when he left the room-Yeonjun assumed to put the folder in their office. When Beomgyu returned, the folder was gone and he was holding the car keys. Yeonjun clapped excitedly and stood up. 

"I actually wanted to go back to the apartment. There are some songs I wanted us to work on." Beomgyu tried to say this casually, but Yeonjun knew him well enough to know he was nervous.

"Us?"

"Yeah, I...I uh, thought what we wrote together a few weeks ago was really good. I want us to keep writing music together. Is that okay?"

Yeonjun squealed and ran over to Beomgyu to wrap his arms around the younger and pepper him with kisses.

"Of course that's okay! I'd love to write with you again!"

"Get off me-"

"How can you expect hyung to contain himself when you're just so cute! Oh, come here-"

Beomgyu had wrestled himself away from Yeonjun's grip and started to run away, but Yeonjun caught up easily and locked his arms around Beomgyu's midriff. Beomgyu sighed for the third time in ten minutes.

"Its hard to believe you're the older one here."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Beomgyu chuckled and rolled his eyes as the two of them left the studio, Yeonjun briefly locking eyes with the adorable bakery owner-Soobin-on the way out of the neighborhood.

*****  
"Hello," a boy with silver hair said while bowing when he came in. Taehyun bowed back.

"Welcome to Choi's. How may I help you?"

"Uh-I was actually wondering if Soobin was here?"

"He just went out for ingredients. I can pass on a message, if you'd like."

"No, that's okay. Thank you."

As the boy left, Kai came in for his shift.

"Hi hyung! How's it going?"

"It's fine. The boy that just left-he came in asking for Soobin. That never happens."

Kai smirked. "How interesting."

"I know! Has Soobin told you about a crush recently?"

"Well-the owner of the new dance studio right next to us did come by yesterday, and Soobin did say he was the cutest."

"Maybe that was him. If he came in asking for Soobin, maybe he thought Soobin was cute too!"

Kai gasped excitedly. "Oh my gosh, hyung-what if they get to know each other and become friends and then boyfriends and then get married and I make them the most wedding cake in all of existence and they get a dog I can play with on the weekends-"

"Slow down. We don't even know for sure if that boy was the dance studio owner. And even if he was, we don't know his sexuality. And...even if he is queer...you know we can't get married here."

Kai looked down at the ground. "I know."

"Um-when-when I said we, I didn't mean, like-the-the two of us-"

"What? N-No, of course not!"

"Yeah, obviously, just wanted to-to be clear because-of course we'd never get married-"

"No, of course not, never!"

"Yeah, duh, just-when I said it, it sounded like-"

"But we wouldn't-"

"Right, you just meant, like, you know, queer people can't-"

"Yeah, that's what I meant."

"Yeah."

Taehyun stared furiously into the glass case where the pastries were displayed, praying he didn't look as mortified as he felt.

"Uh, but anyway-it would be cute if Soobin and that dance studio guy were together. What if we helped set them up?"

Taehyun smiled deviously. "I like the way you think."

So the two boys got to scheming, giggling as they brainstormed.

"What are you two doing?" Seungmin (Soobin's second in command who handled money stuff and was in charge when Soobin was gone) asked when Taehyun and Kai passed by his office on the way to the kitchen.

"Helping Soobin find true love. Want to help?"

Seungmin pursed his lips, shrugged, and tossed aside the paper he'd been holding.

"So what's the plan?"

*****  
"Hey!" Soobin kicked the car that had almost hit him.

"It's my light. You should watch where you're going."

The driver lowered the window and began to sputter apologies.

"I'm so sorry, I got distracted and wasn't paying attention and-Soobin?"

And then Soobin realized the driver was Yeonjun, the cute dance studio guy. Soobin's cheeks went pink.

"Oh! Uh...hi. Sorry for kicking your car."

"Sorry for almost running you over. Want a ride?" Yeonjun sounded sheepish.

"Uh-sure."

Soobin walked around to the passenger's side and opened the door, carefully maneuvering his ridiculously long body inside. Yeonjun giggled and Soobin tried to glare at him, but that just made Yeonjun laugh more.

"I'm sorry-it's just-you look so much like a bunny! It's hard to find you threatening when you're so adorable."

Yeonjun's mouth went round in surprise at his own words and he quickly looked away, staring at the road. Soobin felt his cheeks warm up as he buckled his seat belt. He agonized over what he should say in response, and he decided to just be polite. He didn't want to flirt right away, because then he'd seem like too much.

"Thank you. But you're actually way more adorable than me."

Soobin froze and cursed himself. Why did he say that? What happened to not seeming like too much?

But then Yeonjun blushed a smiled a little bit, and Soobin's heart rate went up, and Soobin decided he'd said the right thing. Yeonjun started driving, and Soobin looked out his window to watch the sunrise.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you going to the studio so early? It's hard to believe that any teenagers are willing to bust a move at six am."

Yeonjun laughed, and Soobin felt like he was soaring.

"Today's the first day of classes, so I just wanted to get there early and make sure all's in order. And I couldn't sleep anyway. Nerves."

"It'll go great."

Yeonjun scoffed. "What makes you so sure?"

Soobin paused and bit his tongue, knowing that if he said what he wanted to say he'd seem like a stalker. But he said it anyway, because he felt a strong desire to make Yeonjun feel better.

"This might sound creepy but...I saw you rehearsing the other day. Through the window. I watched you dance and it was just...gosh, it was just so powerful. Because it had so much passion. It's so clear how much you love dance. And when you love something that much, you want to spread it to others so they can love it too. I'm assuming that's why you decided to run a dance studio. So-I know you've done a good job preparing, and hiring teachers, and I know that these kids will feel so lucky they could learn dance from you. Because its so evident how important this is to you. How much you love it. So I don't think you have anything to worry about. You're going to be great."

Soobin had been looking at Yeonjun this whole time, who had been watching the road and nodding along as Soobin spoke. Soobin saw Yeonjun's facial expression go from insecure and anxious to intrigued, to surprised, to touched and moved. They stopped at a red light and Yeonjun turned to look at Soobin. Soobin felt so overwhelmed by the older's gaze that he thought he might melt.

"I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

Soobin smiled widely. "You must not have nice enough friends then."

Yeonjun's eyes twinkled. "I guess not." He turned back to the steering wheel and Soobin felt his chest get warm.

"So, I assume baking is your passion but-is there anything else you really love?"

"I think I have a lot of passions. The most present ones are food, singing, and my loved ones. I really want to protect my friends and family and show them how much I appreciate them, and how grateful I am for them."

"You sing?"

Soobin was hoping Yeonjun would skim over that part, but of course that's what he wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, but...please don't ask me to sing right now."

Yeonjun laughed-bright and goofy-and Soobin found himself laughing too.

"Don't worry Binnie, I won't." (Soobin's brain went: Binnie????!!!!)

"But it's really cool that you sing. Me and my roommate Beomgyu-we're running the dance studio together-like to make music and perform and stuff. Maybe you could join us sometime. If you want."

Soobin smiled dorkily, overjoyed at the invitation. 

"I would love that. Two of my employees are studying performing arts, actually. They're singers. Could they join us?"

"The more the merrier!"

Soobin stared at Yeonjun, wishing he could memorize every detail of his beautiful face. Soobin was so caught up with ogling the older that he hadn't realized they had arrived in the parking lot, right at the doors of the bakery and dance studio. They got out of the car and took out their keys, heading to their respective doors.

"Thanks for the ride."

"It was the least I could do after almost killing you."

Soobin felt his mouth twitch in amusement. "Since you rescued me from the cold, I'd say we're even."

Yeonjun smiled adorably. (But then again, when were his smiles not adorable?)

"Good luck on your first day of classes."

"Thank you. Good luck with...the bread."

Soobin laughed. "Thanks." He waved awkwardly, not really wanting to go in because he wanted to keep talking to Yeonjun.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Soobin forced himself to go inside, though his eyes never left Yeonjun. Unfortunately, this choice was a poor combination with Soobin's tallness, because when one was tall, they had to be extra careful and aware of their surroundings, and if a tall person was not aware of their surroundings, they would most likely crash into something or someone.  
In Soobin's case, he walked backwards into a table which had another table that was upside down on top of it, so he hit head on a table leg. His hand flew up to the back of his head, but when it did his elbow knocked over a stack of chairs to his right, so they fell to the ground with a deafening clatter.

"Hyung! Are you okay?" Kai came racing out from the back to Soobin's side, checking his head, which Soobin was still holding with his hand.

"I'm fine, just clumsy-wait. What are you doing here? Your shift doesn't start until 3. And don't you have school in an hour across town?"

"Uh...didn't you know? It's winter break! No school for the next week."

The way Kai said it was definitely suspicious, but luckily Soobin didn't dwell on it.

"Um, where's your bike? I don't see it on the rack," Kai asked (despite knowing the answer) to change the subject.

Soobin sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes.

"It got stolen. When I left my apartment the building this morning I went to get it, but someone cut my lock and took it. So annoying. I was going to walk, but then...you know the cute dance studio owner that came in last week? We bumped into each other-well, really he bumped into me-and offered to give me a ride."

Soobin smiled dreamily and walked around the counter to go behind it.

"Did you talk about anything during the drive?"

"Yeah, he told me he was nervous about his first day of classes and I told him about how I saw him dance through the windows and how passionate he seemed and how I knew he was going to do well and that seemed to make him feel better. And then I told him that I like to sing and he said that him and his roommate, who he's running the dance studio with make music and maybe we could all jam together sometime, and then I mentioned you and Taehyun and how you like to sing and could you join us? And he said the more the merrier." Soobin finished speaking-he had been going quite fast-and sighed...dreamily, of course. When it came to Yeonjun, was there any other way to sigh?

Kai giggled. "Sounds like you had a good time."

"Yeah. It was nice." Soobin went to put his bag in his office and finally got to work on the bread while Kai delightedly texted the group chat he'd made with Taehyun and Seungmin to let them know phase 1 was successful.

******  
"That's it for today! Great work everyone! See you all next Monday at 10." Hoseok, one of Yeonjun's employees, said as the first class of the day wrapped up. 

Yeonjun and Beomgyu had been watching it all unfold from the security cameras in their office, and were immensely grateful and relieved that it had gone well. They definitely made a right call hiring Hoseok. He was an incredible dancer and an even better teacher. He also radiated such positivity and joy that he raised the energy level easily. The first group of the day-Intermediate Hip Hop-was successful and Yeonjun and Beomgyu automatically felt like they could breathe easier. They high fived and hugged, and Beomgyu went out into the studio to tell Hoseok he'd done well once all the students were gone. Yeonjun exhaled for what felt like the first time since he decided to try opening his own dance studio. Despite what he was told over and over-that it was a ridiculous career path, it wasn't going to work, and he shouldn't even bother trying-he did it. And that made Yeonjun feel really proud.

So he decided to treat himself by going next door. For a pastry. Definitely not just an excuse to see Soobin again.

"Hey!" Soobin smiled upon seeing Yeonjun, which made the older flood with joy.

"How's the first day going so far?"

"Really good! The first class went smoothly and I'm feeling confident."

"As you should."

Yeonjun bashfully looked away, wondering for the millionth time that day if Soobin was flirting or just being nice. Yeonjun didn't even know if Soobin liked guys. He should probably find out. But how did one casually slip that into a conversation?

"So, what can I get you?"

Yeonjun looked at the glass case of pastries and noticed one in particular that gave him a lightbulb-otherwise known as an idea. He walked up to the counter as coolly as he could.

"I dated this guy once that was obsessed with blondies; they were all I ate for a couple months." Yeonjun paused briefly, trying to gauge Soobin's reaction to Yeonjun saying he'd dated a guy, but Soobin seemed unfazed.

"You'd think I'd be sick of them by now, but my mouth's watering looking at them. Then again, those cakes are also tempting..."

Soobin seemed to brighten up at Yeonjun's uncertainty and answered excitedly.

"Well I really recommend the cakes, as I just perfected the recipe for the lemon one! And breads in cakes in general are always my favorite."

Yeonjun grinned. "In that case, I'll take a lemon pound cake."

Soobin smiled and Yeonjun melted a little bit inside. Soobin got Yeonjun his cake and Yeonjun paid.

"Hey-are you busy this Friday?"

Soobin's eyebrows shot up. "Uh-n-no, I'm not busy. Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to have a jam session at my apartment with some friends. Want to come? You can bring people if you want."

Soobin seemed to droop a little bit, but he said he'd come. Was he disappointed? Did he think Yeonjun was asking him on a date...and Yeonjun had just ruined everything by inviting Soobin to a group hangout? Did Soobin think that Yeonjun was just interested in him as a friend? Oh no-

"Uh, what's your address? So I know where to go on Friday," Soobin said hesitantly, cutting off Yeonjun's thoughts.

"Oh, no need. What time does the bakery close?"

"5 pm."

"The last class of the day on Friday ends at 7. You could hang out at the studio for a couple hours and then I'll drive us to my place. Does that sound okay?"

"Sure. I'll bring a book."

With a random surge of confidence, Yeonjun impulsively blurted out something else.

"It's a date!" 

*****  
"He definitely likes you, hyung."

Soobin was in his apartment, in bed, on the phone with Taehyun. He was telling the younger about Yeonjun coming to the bakery and inviting Soobin to his house for a...date?

"But it can't really be a date, right? Because we're both bringing friends.:

"Maybe his friends are a couple and he thinks it's a double date?"

"But he told me I could bring friends, and if it was a couples thing, he would have specified to bring friends who were a couple. I was going to ask you and Kai if you wanted to come, but if it's a couples thing I guess not. And I can't go on my own. I'll die. Maybe I should cancel."

"No! Um...a-actually hyung, Kai and I...are a couple?"

"Really? When did that happen?"

"Uh...a few days ago."

"Wow. Congrats! I thought you two would never confess. I'm glad I won't have to deal with your mutual pining anymore-it gave the bakery a sadder atmosphere."

"M-mutual pining? What do you mean?"

"It's always been obvious that you guys like each other. You never noticed Kai staring at you? I can't count how many times he's almost dropped plates because I startled him while he was looking at you dreamily."

"Really?"

"Yeah. So you and Kai will come?"

"Y-Yeah. We'll be there."

"Cool. Well, it's getting late. See you tomorrow."

"Bye hyung."

******  
"Uggggggghhhhhh." Yeonjun buried his head in his hands, stress enveloping him. He was looking over financial matters-how much the studio had made in the past five days, and how much it will have made if it continued at this pace in the next month-and was filled with dread knowing the likelihood of debt was high. For Yeonjun, anyway. He'd be in infinite debt to his parents.  
Yeonjun pushed himself away from his desk in his wheeled chair. He stood up, taking his phone, and dug his speaker out of his bag. He plugged in the speaker and put his phone inside. He went to his music library and selected his favorite Girl's Generation album. When the music started, Yeonjun closed his eyes and let out the anxiety and fear that had been building up over the course of the day through dancing and violently lip syncing. He let himself go, not caring about anything or anybody else for a couple songs.

Unfortunately, Yeonjun got so caught up in his impromptu dance session that he forgot what time it was. And who was coming over. So when Soobin stood in the doorway to Yeonjun's office, jaw dropped as he watched the older dance goofily, Yeonjun was none the wiser.

"Ahem."

Yeonjun opened his eyes and turned around, and when he realized who it was, his eyes and mouth went round and his face turned red. He raced over to his speaker to turn the music off.

"S-Soobin...I-I thought you wouldn't be here until...5..."

"It is 5, Yeonjun-ssi. 5:15, actually."

"Oh." There was an awkward silence as Yeonjun stared at the floor, praying for his embarrassment to dissipate and his cheeks to return to their normal color. But then the unbearable quiet was broken-by Soobin singing. His voice was light and pretty.

A smile Yeonjun couldn't resist slowly spread across the older's face. He sang the next lyric. Then the two sang together. 

Yeonjun grinned and reached behind Soobin to press play on the song. They shared a daring look before bursting into ridiculous, rhythmless movement of pure fun. Soobin's long limbs didn't do him any favors. He looked like a drunk giraffe. But a very cute one that made Yeonjun laugh.  
They twirled around and bounced and belted the words until the song ended and Yeonjun landed in his wheeled chair, Soobin giggling and almost falling over from dizziness. Eventually he settled into a chair in front of Yeonjun's desk, so the two were sitting across from each other.  
Soobin wiped at his eyes and ended up in an unintended staring contest with Yeonjun, but it was quickly broken by their laughter.

"Uh...you can call me hyung, by the way."

"Cool. Uh-you can get back to any work you have to do. I'll just be reading."

Yeonjun nodded and sighed, looking down again at the papers of numbers and wanting to throw them out the window. 

"Is everything okay?"

Yeonjun looked up to see a slightly concerned Soobin. He must have sighed louder than he'd thought.

"Yeah, just...I don't know. I'm kind of worried about money stuff. At the rate we're going, I'll never be able to pay my parents back. They're currently paying the rent for this place, and I have to use the money I'm getting from classes to pay the teachers and heat and water and light bills, not to mention my own bills-so there's no way that I'll ever get out of debt to my parents any time soon."

Soobin tilted his head, seeming mystified. "I'm sorry, how long has the studio been open?"

"Five days."

"Five days. Five days, Yeonjun hyung. Let me say that again, in case you didn't hear me before: five. days. That's nothing! Listen, how about this. When it comes time for payday for your employees and when you have to pay the month's bills, divide up everything you've made over the past month into the teacher's payments, bills, you and Beomgyu's payment, and if there's any left, to pay your parents back. Even if it's very little, scrape together every penny. It might take a while, but it can be done. Besides, more students could come in as time goes on and that means more money. You know what, I've run a decently successful business for two years. Let me look at your budget. I'll help you."

Soobin moved his chair over to sit next to Yeonjun behind his desk. Soobin pulled a pair of glasses out of his bag and put them on, picking up papers and looking at the numbers. Yeonjun just stared at the younger in awe.

"Soobin...thank you."

"It's nothing."

"No, seriously." Yeonjun leaned forward and put his fingers under Soobin's chin, turning the younger's head to look at him. Soobin gasped softly.

"Thank you." 

It might have been Yeonjun's imagination, but it seemed like in that moment Soobin's eyes flicked down to Yeonjun's lips.

"Y-You're welcome, hyung."

Soobin quickly turned away, looking back down at the papers and stammering about things Yeonjun could cut out while Yeonjun smiled softly to himself. He wasn't usually one to leave someone else flustered, but he decided that he liked it.

******  
"Everyone buckled in?"

Taehyun and Kai nodded. Soobin turned around to look at the pair, and Taehyun quickly took the younger's hand. Soobin smiled and turned back.

"Let's go!" He said to Yeonjun.

Taehyun exhaled and somewhat reluctantly let go of Kai's hand, but when he snuck a glance at Kai, the younger seemed to deflate at the loss of contact. Taehyun took Kai's hand again and Kai smiled in a way that made Taehyun's chest feel warm. Taehyun squeezed Kai's hand, and Kai turned to look at him.

"You ready?"

Kai nodded, his infectious smile still across lips. His eyes went over Taehyun's face before Kai leaned in and kissed Taehyun's cheek-or more like the corner of his mouth. Well, not quite. It was an area of skin very near Taehyun's mouth. If Kai had moved his lips to the left just a bit, the two would be kissing. But of course he didn't. He just pulled away and smiled-a little dimmer this time, but he still smiled.

"I'm ready?"

Suddenly they had arrived at their destination. Yeonjun parked and they all got out, following the eldest to a brownstone apartment building. They went inside, stepped into the elevator, pressed the button for 5, and went down the hallway to 5C.  
Yeonjun fumbled for his keys, got them out of his pocket, and dropped them. Soobin and Yeonjun both bent down to pick them up and their fingers touched. They both pulled away like they'd been shocked, stuttering and stammering awkward apologies. Kai nudged Taehyun with his elbow and rolled his eyes, smirking. Taehyun grinned in return.  
When they finally made it into the apartment, they were met with two people already there.

"Beomgyu! How did you get here before us?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets," the chestnut haired boy said.

"I picked him up from the studio early," said a boy with dyed red hair as he came up behind Beomgyu. Beomgyu pouted.

"You revealed the secret, babe. That's exactly what you're not supposed to do to be a magician. Why must you ruin my magician dreams?" The red haired boy giggled.  
The red haired boy introduced himself as Jeongin, Beomgyu's boyfriend.

"I'm Taehyun, and this is my boyfriend, Kai." As Taehyun said it, he realized how easy and normal it was. Is that how it would be? To be dating Kai? Because...seeing Kai as his boyfriend wasn't even that hard?

Once they were all acquainted, Yeonjun and Beomgyu sat them down in the living room and ordered them to wait. Taehyun looked over at Jeongin, who watched Beomgyu leave with a fond smile. The infatuation radiating off of him made Taehyun smile too.

"How long have you and Beomgyu been together, Jeongin-ssi?"

"Almost four months. How about you two?" Jeongin gestured towards Taehyun and Kai.

"About a week."

"To be clear, they've been in love with each other for the entirety of their high school career but they just made it official a week ago." Kai shot a glance in Taehyun's direction at Soobin's words, but didn't look Taehyun in the eye.

Meanwhile, Jeongin chuckled. "I'm glad you two finally pulled the trigger. It took a while for Beomgyu and I too, you know? Not quite as long, but it was still quite some time. He came into the flower shop where I work everyday for eight months. He didn't even talk to me for the first three. He was such a mess."

"But a cute mess," Beomgyu said as he entered the room with Yeonjun in tow. Beomgyu was holding a guitar and Yeonjun had a drum set.

"And there's a piano over there, under that blue tarp," Yeonjun said as he jerked his head towards the corner of the room. Kai squealed and ran towards it, which made Taehyun's heart feel like it was being squeezed.  
Fortunately the piano had wheels, so Kai pulled it forward to the center of the room. An armchair was pushed out of the way to make space for it, and the dining table was put in the hallway to fit Yeonjun's drum set. As Yeonjun set up, Taehyun saw him catch Soobin's eyes and Soobin winked, leaving Yeonjun grinning and Soobin embarrassed. Taehyun turned and saw Kai witness it, so when he looked away, he found Taehyun's eyes and they snorted.

"Okay, have any of you heard Loona's new song butterfly?"

Everyone nodded and smiled at each other over their shared music taste.

"I thought maybe we could try to recreate it! But also we're kind of just having fun, so it's okay if you play whatever. You three-I assume your voices are your instruments?" Yeonjun said, gesturing to Soobin, Jeongin, (who had taken Kai's spot on the couch in between Soobin and Taehyun) and Taehyun. 

The three exchanged looks and then turned back to Yeonjun, nodding. Yeonjun smiled and tapped his drumsticks together to start counting.

"3, 2, 1..."

And thus began a beautiful mess. It was disorganized and nothing fit together smoothly, so to anyone else's ears it would just be a cacophony of disaster, but to the six in that apartment, it was hilarious and perfect. Taehyun, Soobin, and Jeongin sang loudly and off key and burst into fits of giggles, falling on top of each other. Taehyun sneaked a glance at his fake boyfriend during this, and thought he saw-jealousy?-when Jeongin's head ended up in Taehyun's lap.  
Once Jeongin untangled himself from Taehyun, the latter got up off the couch and stood at the piano to watch Kai play.

"Y'all can't stop being cute and gay for five seconds, can you?" Soobin teased. Taehyun contained a squeal at seeing Kai's flustered reaction. He was just so cute. 

Taehyun made his way over to the younger, sitting next to him on the piano bench. He put his head on Kai's shoulder and felt Kai tense up. Taehyun lifted his head off of Kai and stared at him, seriously starting to wonder...could Kai like him back?

Kai felt Taehyun's eyes on him, so eventually he tore his gaze away from the black and white keys into Taehyun's big, deep brown eyes. They were so close, but Kai wanted to be closer. He wanted there to be no distance between them. His eyes flickered down to Taehyun's lips and his heart pounded. Kai wanted to kiss him so, so badly. He looked back up into Taehyun's eyes and tried to communicate that non verbally, because he didn't want to do anything without the older's permission. Taehyun nodded, and Kai felt like he couldn't breathe. He wanted to kiss him, and it seemed Taehyun had given him the permission-but for all Kai knew, Taehyun could be thinking about something else. And Kai didn't want to kiss Taehyun when he wasn't 100% sure that Taehyun was okay with it. So Kai stared back down at the piano, scooting away from Taehyun on the piano bench. Kai felt like he was on fire.

Taehyun felt like he'd been shot. For a moment there, he really thought Kai was going to kiss him. But then he moved away. What if Kai realized Taehyun wanted to kiss him and felt disgusted? What if Kai was disgusted by Taehyun? What if Kai hated Taehyun?

Logically, Taehyun knew none of these things were true, because Kai himself was queer, so why would be disgusted by Taehyun being queer too? Not to mention Kai had been completely supportive of Soobin from the moment he came out. And Kai and Taehyun were pretending to be a couple, for crying out loud. There were many reasons why Taehyun's thought spiral in that moment didn't really make sense. But in that moment, logic went out the window. All Taehyun was shame, regret, self hatred, and fear. So he got up off the piano bench and ran away, slamming the door to Yeonjun and Beomgyu's apartment behind him as he went.

 

******  
"Taehyun? Taehyun! Please stop!"

Taehyun stopped in his tracks and whirled around. Kai could see the tears in his eyes, and it made him ache.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I was creepy and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable and just-I'm sorry! Okay? So can we forget about it and move on? And can you let me go home?"

Kai was swimming in confusion. He ran forward to where Taehyun stood. With now less than a foot of space between them, Kai could see how red Taehyun's eyes were, and how hard he was crying, and Kai felt like ripping his own heart out at the sight of them.

"Why would I think you're creepy? What did you do that would make me uncomfortable?"

Taehyun got timid and his eyes went to the pavement.

"I almost kissed you." He said it faintly-almost a whisper. 

Kai felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him. It hadn't been his imagination? Taehyun had wanted to kiss him?

"Why didn't you?" Kai said softly, before he could stop himself.

Taehyun looked up at Kai like he was an idiot. "Why didn't you?"

"What?"

"Why didn't YOU kiss ME?"

"I-I don't know! I wasn't sure if we were on the same page and you were thinking what I was thinking and wanting what I was wanting and I didn't want to do anything you weren't comfortable with and I'm sorry I just was too scared to actually ask for your consent because than it would have been real and what if you were thinking about something else and I accidentally revealed my feelings and ruined our friendship and-"

"I'm going to kiss you now. Is that okay?"

Kai felt like he couldn't breathe. For the second time that night. But somehow, he was able to respond.

"Yes."

And then Taehyun's lips were on his and Taehyun's arms were around his neck and Kai's hands were holding Taehyun's face and they moved together in this beautiful rhythm Kai didn't even realize he knew and he never knew it was possible to fit with someone so well, like they were meant to click with each other, to feel so snug and right in someone else's arms-  
And then Taehyun pulled away and looked at Kai, biting his lip. Taehyun gently ran a hand through Kai's hair, which made Kai melt. To the point where he blurted out something ridiculous.

"Be the bread to my Soobin?"

Taehyun cackled and his head fell forward onto Kai's chest. Kai wrapped his arms around the older and Taehyun reciprocated the embrace, kissing the side of Kai's head.

"Yes, I will be your boyfriend."

******  
"Is he going to be okay?"

"Kai went after him, and he'll talk to him and he'll be okay. I don't think we should follow them, because Taehyun might get overwhelmed by too many people."

"Do you know what happened?"

"No, but I do know what helps and does not help when he's upset. So the best we can do is wait for them to get back.

Beomgyu, Jeongin, and Yeonjun nodded. "I should go check on dinner. Join me, would you darling?" Beomgyu said as he stood up, offering his arm to Jeongin.

"It would be my pleasure." The pair walked into the kitchen, leaving Soobin and Yeonjun alone. Soobin watched Yeonjun smile at Beomgyu as he left.

"You and Beomgyu seem really close."

"Oh yeah. He's my best friend in the universe. We've known each other most of our lives, and no one knows me better. I love him more than I can put into words." Yeonjun smiled, and something clicked in Soobin's brain.

"Oh. You two..."

"What? N-no! He's with Jeongin!"

"That doesn't mean you can't have feelings for him." Soobin stood up,grabbing his and Taehyun's bags.

"This was a mistake. I should go." Yeonjun got up, almost hitting a cymbal in his fervor. 

"No, Soobin, it's not like that! I promise, Beomgyu's like my brother. I don't love him in that way."

"Even if that's true...I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I could...we could...I don't know, date. Or something. If we did, it would have to be secret, and I don't want to do that to you. And if we were open, than the neighborhood finds out I'm gay and I lose all my customers and then I lose my business and I just...can't risk that. I'm sorry. I wish you all the best. Goodbye."

Soobin turned around and walked out the door, leaving Yeonjun stunned. Beomgyu and Jeongin chose that moment to return from the kitchen.

"Where did Soobin go?"

"I-he...he thought I was in love with you, and I told him that wasn't true, and he said even if I didn't love you like that, he couldn't do this anyway, because we can't date without people finding out and risking Soobin losing customers, and then his business..."

"Woah."

"Yeah."

"Well, what are you still doing here? Go after him!"

"But-he said we can't-"

"Too bad! You gotta go fight for him. Are you really going to let homophobia get in the way of you two? Cause you're not one to let hatred win."

Yeonjun paused, staring at Beomgyu, and then looking back at the door.

"You're right. I'm not." And then Yeonjun raced out of the apartment, running down the hallway to find the one he refused to let get away.

"Soobin!" Yeonjun shouted to the younger, who was waiting for the elevator.

"Yeonjun, please don't make this any harder than it is-"

"Do you want to try this?"

"What?"

"Do YOU-want to try this?"

Soobin softened, and Yeonjun couldn't help himself from cupping the younger's cheek with his hand. He had been right-they were very soft.

"Of course I want to try. But-"

"Who cares about other people? If you lose customers, than its their loss. Besides, you can get new customers. Gay couples who want wedding cakes but were refused by other businesses. Trans kids who can't find any other establishment with a gender neutral bathroom. You could make it your brand-you could make the whole bakery's thing gayness! And make a safe space for so many people. Or don't. That's fine. If you don't want to come out, I totally understand and respect that. And I'm willing to date you in secret, because I really, really want to try this. So what do you say?"

Soobin stared at Yeonjun for a few moments, clearly thinking. He then stepped closer and hesitantly put his hand in Yeonjun's hair. A smile slowly spread across Soobin's face.

"I'm in."

And they kissed, and it was pure bliss, utter euphoria, complete delight and wonder and magic and romance and perfection. When they pulled apart, Yeonjun just stared at Soobin in shock, not realizing kisses like that were actually real-he figured they only happened in the movies.  
But maybe life was sweeter than fiction.

******

Six Months Later

"I regret helping you two get together." Seungmin glared at Yeonjun and Soobin, who were cuddling on a couch in Beomgyu and Yeonjun's office. Soobin chuckled and Yeonjun stuck his tongue out at Seungmin.

"If you, Jeongin, and Beomgyu must hold hands literally everywhere you go like you're preschoolers on a field trip, then we're allowed to cuddle without this slander."

"We do not do tha-"

"We kind of do, babe." Beomgyu appeared at the door and giggled as he made his way over to Seungmin. Beomgyu kissed the pout off the younger's lips.  
A few months ago, Beomgyu and Jeongin had made it known they were now in a polyamorous relationship, and Soobin had seized the opportunity to set Seungmin up, as he felt bad Seungmin was the only single one in their friend group. And the three had turned out to be good matches for each other so far.

Soobin checked his watch and groaned. "My break's up. I gotta go, babe."

Yeonjun whined. "Nooooo. You're so warm, please can I stay like this forever?"

Soobin chuckled. "Sorry, but no. Get up so you can walk me back to the bakery."

"It's less than a hundred feet away, he really doesn't have to walk you back-"

"Beomgyu, please make your boyfriend shut up so my boyfriend and I can stroll in peace?"

"Will do."

Yeonjun and Soobin left the dance studio, briefly saying hi to the ballet teacher Jimin as he set up before his class. They walked outside, basking in the humid July air. It wasn't as sweltering as it had been in past days, but still stuffy. They walked into the bakery to see Taehyun and Kai making out.

"Guys, no PDA on company hours."

Kai whined and pulled away from his boyfriend. "Then how come you and Yeonjun get to hold hands and stuff?"

"Cause I'm the boss." Soobin grinned cheekily and Yeonjun kissed his cheek.

Kai rolled his eyes and Taehyun took his hand as he dragged him to the kitchen. "Come on, I gotta get to work on Elizabeth and Eunyoung's cake anyway. Which reminds me: a new couple came in while you were gone-they want us to cater for their wedding in Taiwan."

Soobin nodded knowingly. When they got asked to cater, it was almost always for weddings in Taiwan, as it was the only Asian country that had legalized same sex marriage-yet.

"Did they leave any info?"

"Yeah, I put it on your desk."

"Thank you!" Soobin called as Taehyun disappeared into the back, Kai on his heels. Soobin turned back to his boyfriend, who had been staring at him adoringly.

"What?"

"Just...I'm so proud of you. You came out and turned this place into an LGBT hot spot and you've done so much good for so many queer people who felt alone. It's amazing."

"You gave me the idea. And supported me through coming out, which was one of the hardest times of my life."

"What are boyfriends for?"

Soobin bit his lip, bursting with three words he'd wanted to say for weeks but had been terrified of. But he couldn't help himself anymore.

"I love you."

Yeonjun smiled, and Soobin sighed dreamily. As always.

"I love you too."

**Author's Note:**

> the title is one of the lyrics from crown (in the english translation)  
> i hope you like this! i had a lot of fun writing it and it went in different directions than i thought it would  
> stream cat & dog & have a nice day


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